John and Craig revisit ghosts of Christmas past in our Holiday Live Show 2018. They’re joined by Pamela Ribon (Ralph Breaks the Internet, Smurfs: The Lost Village), Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Into the Spiderverse, The Lego Movie), Zoanne Clack (Grey’s Anatomy) and Cherry Chevapravatdumrong (Family Guy, The Orville) to discuss writing animated features, breaking into television, and how to disappoint your parents.

We also rescue another genre, the big-screen holiday comedy, by playing a game about Christmas movies. Then we answer audience questions about useful notes and being the only woman in the room.

In our bonus segment for premium members we discuss New Year’s Resolutions, our conversation includes defining ‘the line of action,’ constructing successful goals, and unraveling the nature of shame.

Links:

• Thank you to the Writers Guild Foundation and the LA Film School for hosting us!
• Thank you, Writers Guild Foundation for making this event happen!
• And thank you to our incredible guests: Pamela Ribon, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Zoanne Clack and Cherry Chevapravatdumrong!
• Featured movies in the Santa Claus Is Bumming Me Down game are Four Christmases, Jingle All The Way, Deck the Halls, Fred Claus, Jack Frost, Surviving Christmas and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause.
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• John August on Twitter
• Craig Mazin on Twitter
• Pamela Ribon on Twitter
• Phil Lord on Twitter
• Chris Miller on Twitter
• Zoanne Clack on Twitter
• Cherry Chevapravatdumrong on Twitter
• John on Instagram
• Find past episodes
• Scriptnotes Digital Seasons are also now available!
• Outro by Fred Tepper (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Megana Rao (this episode originally produced by Megan McDonnell) and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.